The Cecil Whig., 1887-12-31


today" said Trevor, as he noted the
unwonted signs; did lady send emp"
"A charming little lady, answered
Amyatt, with laughing glance, not IN
mixed with tenderness, at the more or
less faded fl h,wers which adorned his
buttonhole.
Rather a new departure for you, eh,
old chap?" Trevor hinted.
Better late than never" returned
The Mjor, cheerfully.
Il always thought Amyatt would taEc
1t badly if he did take it," confi,lcd the
senior Captain to Arlington.
"Ah But you didn't think he ever
wound take it,, Arlington said by way
of reminder.
"Well, that's true Trevor admitted.
Amy att, however, knew nothing OF
the gossip in the regiment concerning
him other than what Trevor mad actu-
ally said to him for, in spite of his
great popularity, there was a certain
| something about him which eh.CtuailY
prevented even that familiarity which
usually exists among officers Of the same
regiment. And the days passed on until
| they grew into weeks, as the days OF
| busy men do, when one day he realized
that it was more than six weeks since
he had heard from his child friend,
| LAURA Holt. GLOW odd that the little
soul has not wrtten,' he thought per
haps she, too, has forgotten
However, as he had just got some
numbers of magazine in which short
story of his was appearing that month,
he put wrapper round one and ad-
dressed it to 'Nliss Laura Holt - and
| by return of post there came for him
letter in strange handwriting bearing
the post mark OF the town in which she
| lived.
Aye, but was it so strange? Amyatt
| stared at it for full a minute before he
| opened it, his memory going back, back,
back-Oh to the days Of his Doyhcod,
gone never TO come again, never any
more. And then, when he tore the
cover and found that it contained a
| little note IN his friends round hand
writing, that memory straightway van
ishcd.
dear Mr.. John Dawes" it SAID,
"ihank you SO much tor sending me
the story. Mother is just goingto read
it to me, but | wanted TO write to you
first You must have thought it odd |
didn't write SO long. have been very
| i'll, and can only sit up tor Il few min
ute, and write with a pencil now, |
think | am rather better. l have been
five weeks in bed already. Ever your
loving friend, LAURA"
Naturally, Amystt knew but little
about the ailments of children, but it
| seemed to him that for a child nine
years old to be in bed five weeks at
stretch, with no Immediate prospect OF
getting up again, was a very bad sign,
and in his anxiety he appealed to the
resimcntal surgeon.
"What's the matter with the chiido'
he asked.
81 don't know"
"Ihen you'd better make the illness
| shorter, or give it scarlet fever, he said,
thinking that Amyatt was merely stating
a case tor one of his stories.
"But it is a real child" the Major
explained.
Very bad lookout, then, returned
the doctor, decidedly.
Then Amyatt wrote to the mother.
Il shall be grateful if you will tell me
how my little friend 49, he replied.
Il assure you if l had known her for
twenty years could not feel more anx-
ious than her letter has made me feel
this morning." Yet even when this
was gone he still could not take his
thoughts away from his dear little friend
whom he had never seen lying pros
trate-for the handwriting told him she
must be indeed very ill--on bed of
sickness and pain.
In two days the reply came-written
in the same hand as the cover of the
Child's last letter, handwriting which
set every nerve in his body throbbing,
every pulse beating like steam engine.
"My little glrl is very, very ill.," Mrs.
Holt wrote much worse since she
wrote you, and the doctors told me last
night that | must be ready to face the
worst. When tell you that she and
are quite alone in the world, you will
know what my agony is. ! can't write
about it. | can only thank you and
bless you for al the pleasure you have
given her, and beg you, utter stranger
as you are, to pray that this blow may
not fall upon me. Yours gratefully,
"LAURA ST. MARY HOLT."
| cutter stranger that you are p' Why,
even in his concern and distress. Amy
att almost laughed out loud. A stranger
to her-a stranger Why, the letter,
the handwriting, the name, had all
brought back the self-samc memory
that the cover of the child's letter had
called back only the other day The
memory of what2 Well, just this-ot
the only woman he had ever asked to
be his wite, the only woman ne had
ever loved
She bad told him frankly and simply
that she was engaged to another man,
and Amyatt had rushed away. never
asking, in his misery, SO much as his
| rivals name.
SO it had been Holt And he was
| dead Yes. evidently he was dead for